Contractions

Aprende como usar “Contractions” en inglés aquí:

We use contractions commonly in speech as a way to shorten words, because they represent the pronunciation of informal speech. They are also regularly used in informal writing, but not in formal writing. Contractions are made by putting two words together with an apostrophe. They are formed with auxiliary verbs, be, and have.

There are two kinds of contractions:

1. noun/pronoun + auxiliary/verb (normally not placed at the end of clauses)

I’m tired.

My father’s not well.

We’re happy and healthy.

Where’s the fire?

2. auxiliary/verb + not (can be placed at the end of clauses)

They aren’t ready.

Can’t your drive?

We shouldn’t do that.

You won’t be there.

Some negative forms can have two options. The more common choice depends on location (England, the U.S., Scotland, etc.)

They aren’t ready.

She hadn’t arrived yet.

They’re not ready.

She’d not arrived.

-’s = is/has

Used with nouns, question words, here, now, pronouns, and unstressed there

There’s a lot of work to do.

What’s the plan?

He’s on his way.

The coffee’s getting cold.

-’ll = will, -’d = would, -’re = are

Used with pronouns and unstressed there; in all other cases, the full form is written.

Economists say we’ve got more disposable income than ever before, so why can’t we find disposable leisure time as well?

In the beginning of the 20th century, capitalist countries were thriving. The nineteenth century was full of possibility, providing us with such useful technological advancements as petrol, electricity, steel, rubber, cotton, chemical industries, automatic machinery, and assembly-line methods of mass production. The economist John Maynard Keyes took these new efficiencies as a sign that we were headed in the right direction. He projected we would eventually become so efficient that a 15-hour workweek for his grandchildren would be the norm. He felt so strongly that he composed an essay titled, “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” and listed the biggest future problem to be so much leisure that we’d have nothing to do.

Nearly a century later, Brigid Schulte, a reporter for the Washington Post, published a book titled, “Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time.” Much to the contrary of Keynes’ prediction, twenty-first-century Americans have less leisure time in their lives than ever before, and feel incredibly swamped and overwhelmed.

Schulte set out to find the reason for “the overwhelm” by tracking her own time, attending a seminar for time use and a focus group in Fargo, and visiting the stress center at Yale. To summarize, she gives us a number of theories.

Busier Than Thou: In our habit of keeping up with the Joneses, we want to out-busy them as well. Busy is a sign of success and prosperity, and though we complain about it endlessly, we’re slightly bragging about it as well.

Thinking about it too much: Another theory is that we actually do have a decent amount of leisure time, but we just don’t feel like it. If we’re playing with our kids or spending time with our spouses, this should feel like leisure time. However, we tend to think about our to-do list, check our phones, draft emails, and answer business calls during this “leisure time,” which eliminates any relaxation we might have gained.

Inequality at home: On average, women who work full-time jobs are still doing twice as much of the housework as their male counterparts. Their “second shift” at home is causing extreme feelings over overwhelm because, well, they’re doing two jobs. Yet, this theory only truly explains a working mom’s feeling over being overwhelmed.

While Keynes’ was correct about prosperity, and Schulte found many reasons for busyness, one thing she forgets to mention is consumption. Sure, we feel harried, and we have plenty of money to buy everything we need, but in our consumer’s economy, we continue to find new things to need, according to “Revisiting Keynes,” published in 2008 by two Italian economists, Lorenzo Pecchi and Gustavo Piga. We practice leisure through simultaneous consumption, according to Swedish economist Staffan B. Linder, by smashing our enjoyable activities all together (watching TV, drinking expensive craft beer, eating sushi, and hosting a party) and over stimulating ourselves for a couple of hours. We learn how to enjoy leisure by seeing people enjoying leisure all around us. Instead, we see people enjoying consumerism and we follow suit.

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